The invention relates to a photographing mode switching device for a camera, and more particularly, to such a device for use with a camera on which an electronic flash is detachably mounted and wherein a selective switching is permitted between an EE photographing mode under natural light and a flashlight photographing mode.
Photographic cameras are known which are adapted to be used in combination with an electronic flash that is detachably mounted thereon and in which a movement of a photographing mode switching member disposed within the camera to a position where a flash photography is activated establishes a flash photography mode of the camera by presetting a given exposure period to be used during the flash photography while simultaneously turning on a power switch of an electronic flash mounted thereon, thus activating the electronic flash. A camera of the kind described which is available in the prior art is convenient in use in that the operation is simplified, inasmuch as the operation of a single member allows a switching of the photographing mode of the camera simultaneously with the activation of the electronic flash.
However, in the camera of the kind described, when the electronic flash is dismounted from the camera while the mode switching member assumes a position which enables a flash photography, the camera is left in its flash photography enabled condition even though no electronic flash is mounted thereon. This results in an inconvenience that a proper exposure cannot be achieved if a picture is taken when a photographer has forgotten to return the mode switching member. Another inconvenience experienced is the fact that a proper exposure may also be precluded as a result of an inadvertent operation of the mode switching member.